Covid-19: Koyambedu cluster spoils it for rural Tamil Nadu

After the early wave of Covid-19 cluster, constituting the Tablighi Jamaat members, vast stretches of Tamil Nadu’s hinterland had remained largely infection free. That was until earlier this month when the Koyambedu cluster exploded.
The Covid-19 spread had been restricted to populated, urban areas with villagers zealously protecting their green patches. In mid-April, in Ariyalur’s Unjini panchayat, villagers barricaded their borders to prevent ‘outsiders’ from entering and residents leaving.
Until April 30, Ariyalur and neighbouring Perambalur district had succeeded in restricting the Covid-19 positive cases to single digits.The Koyambedu cluster smashed the protective barriers taking the numbers in the two districts to 308 and 105. Village youths had fanned out to the cities in search of jobs, many lured by earnings as loadmen and waiters in in the Koyambedu market.
But red and amber leaked into the delta districts. Villages like Namangunam, Keezha Esanai, Veppankuzhi, Sirukalathur and Vanjinapuram that were all Covid-19 free not long ago have recorded cases.
Farmer representatives say that earlier Covid-19 had no impact on the agriculture in the delta region. General secretary of TN Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, Mannargudi S Ranganathan, said samba cultivation was over before February. “But, there may be some impediments now,” he said.
Nilgiris which was all set to get into green zone without any cases for more than 21 days, had to remain in orange because of the Koyambedu cluster. In Dharmapuri two vegetable vendors from Koyambedu tested positive, while in Tirupur two truck drivers succumbed. All the four were from rural areas.
Dindigul and Theni in the south were hit by the early TJ wave before it subsided. Dindigul sends tonnes of vegetables across TN every day. But now there is a rise in cases in the two major agri districts with the Koyambedu Covid burst.
Vigilantism has been strong in the rural belt. When a 59-yearold man, who was working in Koyambedu, came to his native place at Vembakottai in Virudhunagar district, taking a lift in a truck last week, villagers barricaded the borders. In the rural parts of the state’s northern districts, Covid positive cases were relatively less. That was until the Koyambedu leak.
(Inputs from V Mayilvaganan & Bosco Dominique)